Sunday, May 13, 2012

Safe! But from what?

Yes, another movie post.  I'm getting caught up here.  The ladies went to the movies a few weeks ago.  It had been ages since we'd all got together.  All four of us at the same time.  It was a miracle.  However, the selection of films wasn't the most compelling so we ended up viewing Safe.  This is the Jason Statham action/adventure movie.  We usually don't opt for this type of film but pickings were slim.

(Did you know that Jason Statham was a British Olympic diver before he became an actor?  I didn't.  Just a little trivia for the day.)

The plot premise involves a "black ops super cop" named Luke Wright, played by Jason Statham, who had been hired by the NYC mayor, played by Chris Sarandon, to clean up the streets.  Luke Wright, being disgusted by the corrupt government officials, becomes a cage-fighter.  Having ideals, Wright refuses to "throw" a fight.  This causes the head of the Russian mafia, Docheski- played by Sandor Tecsy, to lose a great deal of money.  It's not good to anger Docheski as this causes Docheski to murder your wife and then threaten to murder anyone you become close to.  So, Wright ends up living in a homeless shelter barely existing.  He finds himself seriously contemplating suicide when he becomes aware of Mei, played by Catherine Chan, as she works her way through a subway station avoiding several men who are obviously searching for someone.  This snaps Wright out of his mental haze and puts him into "protector mode".  From this moment on, we're in action adventure heaven.  It turns out that Mei has escaped from being abducted by the Russian mob (Docheski's people) who took her from the Chinese Triads who had absconded with her from China where she had been forcibly removed without her consent from her family.  Mei is a math prodigy with an eidetic memory and is being used to keep the bookies in NYC honest without a paper trail.  At least, that's the story cooked up on which to base the movie.  But hey, we're not looking for Oscar material, just a reason to have guns, fists and car chases.  The Triads are headed by Han Jiao (James Wong).  Mei has had to memorize a really, really, really long number that turns out to be the combination of a safe that holds millions of dollars......

Anyway, you get the point.  There is a lot going on.  There is more going on than originally meets the eye.  It's not just the Russian Mob and Chinese Triads because corrupt politicians are around and the mayor once hired Luke Wright.  It's an action adventure movie so there will be lots of you know what.  Mercifully, it's short, only 94 minutes.  So I give it an A- because it hit all the right notes.  Plus, in the previews, we found out there will be a sequel to The Expendables!

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